During evening hours, stationary objects that are situated alongside a roadway, and objects moving along the roadway, present a special visibility hazard to users of the roadway. The use of motor vehicle headlights provides some degree of protection for night-time travelers and reduces that hazard substantially. However, light reflective surfaces and devices have long been used to further reduce this visibility hazard by enhancing the amount of light that is reflected back to the vehicle operator. For example, small plastic reflectors have been mounted to rods that are strategically placed at corners and at the edges of driveways to safely guide a motorist along that corner or driveway. Reflectors and reflective tapes have been used to identify mailboxes and other stationary objects located at the side of the roadway. Very often, the roadway itself may contain imbedded reflective lane markers to assist users of the roadway to stay within a certain lane of traffic which traveling at night. Each of these examples is a typical use of light reflective devices or surfaces that are well known in the art. Also well known is the fact that each of these reflective objects tends to be monochromatic in application.
In the experience of these inventors, what has not been done in the prior art is to use a safety marker in the form of a reflector where multiple pieces or multiple colors of reflective material are used in combination with an overlay material to make the reflector decorative as well as functional, and without diminishing its safety qualities. Accordingly, what is needed is a reflector that can be used as a safety device and as a message-giving device at the same time, the reflector using multiple colors or multiple pieces of reflective material and an overlay material to selectively divide the different reflective colors or pieces to thereby form a design. What is also needed is an easy way to fabricate and assemble the reflector such that a minimal number of parts are used and a minimal number of steps are used to assemble the reflector. What is also needed is a versatile way to mount the reflector to magnetic or non-magnetic surfaces, to mount the reflector as a stand-alone object, and to combine the reflector with an advertising frame or other retailer or source identifier as required or desired. Finally, what is also needed is a reflector that can be specifically formed into a flag arrangement, using a color scheme such that the reflector can replicate the colors of a flag, whereby the reflector can be used for safety purposes as well as for providing the user with a patriotic display.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful reflector that can be used as a safety device and as a message-giving device at the same time. It is another object to provide a reflector that is easy to fabricate and assemble. It is still another object to provide a reflector that can be mounted to a magnetic or non-magnetic surface, as a stand-alone object, or combined with an advertising frame or other source identifier. It is yet other object to provide such a reflector that is specifically formed into a flag arrangement, using a color scheme such that the reflector replicates the colors of a flag.